An Interview with Dallas Animal Service's    Nicole Connors

Wildlife Advocate Making a Difference

by Sandy Schriever

With good intentions and armed with lots of questions, I went to the Lake Highlands home of Nicole Connors, Interim District Manager of Dallas Animal Services.  Instead of asking Nicole all the standard background questions, I was swept away by her enthusiasm and stories.  The energy that Nicole emanates is almost like a physical force that glows around her.  How else can you explain how she could be a wife, mother of two grown children, and a raccoon rehabilitator at home while working full-time for the city of Dallas?  At the peak or her stint as a rehabber (Nicole has since resigned that post), she had 39 raccoons housed in lovely accommodations under a huge pecan tree in her backyard.

Sandy Schriever, hotline volunteer since May 2005.

But we did get down to business in between the field stories.  Nicole has worked nine years at Animal Services both in the field as an officer and also in the office trying to change things on the administrative and legal fronts to better protect our domestic and wildlife animals (more about that later).  She explained some of the history behind Animal Services.  Although Animal Services had its origins in the early 1920s, it wasn’t until the mid-1950s when Dallas had the dubious distinction of being the “Rabies Capital of the Nation,” that the city really became serious about eradicating and preventing this neurological disease.  Laws were passed requiring that animals be restrained, vaccinated for rabies, and registered with the city.  Later, additional shelters were built, more equipment obtained, and additional officers hired.  Today, Animal Services continues to serve a vital role in our community.  Without their help, the feral cat and dog population would be out of control and the injured and orphaned wildlife they pick up and refer to us would not survive.  (Last year, Animal Services had to euthanize over 2600 adult raccoons and opossums trapped and brought in by citizens.)

On an average day, Animal Services:

The 33 officers in Animal Services go out to help citizens and animals day and night.  Meanwhile, Nicole is working inside the “system,” to make some of Dallas’ city ordinances even tougher than the minimal state laws protecting wildlife.  One example involves the distribution of traps given out to citizens to catch wildlife, such as raccoons.  Nicole now has it on the books that traps will not be given out when temperatures go into the 90s because too many people did not check the traps and the animals died of heat exposure. 

I came away from my interview with Nicole understanding a lot better what the role of Animal Services is and the many functions this vital agency performs.  And, personally, I feel a lot better knowing that someone like Nicole who really cares about animals is in the position she is and is making a real difference for wildlife.